


Fidelity

by BombshellKell



Category: Thor - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-06
Updated: 2013-05-06
Packaged: 2017-12-10 13:57:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/786809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BombshellKell/pseuds/BombshellKell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Loki begins to question Sigyn's loyalty to him, he uses magic to make Fandral his puppet. As he obsessively tries to catch Sigyn being unfaithful, Fandral falls deeper and deeper into the hold of the spell, and soon things get more complicated than even Loki could have predicted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fidelity

**Author's Note:**

> A special thanks to lightsway for being my beta reader and helping me out incredibly with this fic!

“Are you faithful to me?” 

The question was so out of the blue that Sigyn’s spoon dropped out of her hand and clattered to the floor. She stared at Loki with wide eyes. “O-Of course I am faithful to you. What have I done to make you think otherwise?” 

“You are so distant. When I speak to you, you take moments to answer me. You seem uninterested in me.” He picked up his fork, and Sigyn slid out of her seat to retrieve her spoon, which had fallen under the table cloth. “I only wondered. It seemed a logical explanation.”

“Why?” she asked, clutching the silver spoon between her fingers as she sat back on her heels and looked up at him. “Why is it logical?” 

“Because everyone betrays me eventually.” 

It would have been less painful if he had struck her. She stood, put the spoon back on the table, and smoothed her hands over her skirt before walking over to him. “You mustn’t think that, my love,” she said, forcing a smile for him and putting her hands on his shoulders. “Only fools betray you.” 

“I do not know yet whether you are a fool or not.” 

She sighed, her fingers rubbing into his tense shoulders, but she stopped when he shrugged her hands off. “I am not a fool,” she said, her voice quiet. “And if you think me one, I am sorry. But I will never leave you of my own free will, and there is nothing that could happen that will change that. I was born to love you, Loki.” 

“We are not born to love,” he said, turning around and standing up. While standing, he was a full foot taller than she was, and she had to turn her head upwards to look him in the eye. “We choose to love. Do not say that you were born to love me. It implies that you have no choice. I want you to choose me.” 

She smiled tightly, stepping forward and winding her arms around his waist, resting her head against his chest. “I choose you,” she said. “And I would choose you again, and again, and again.” 

Loki didn’t move at first, and she could almost feel him doubt her, feel him wonder how anyone could choose him, and more than once, at that. But eventually his arms came up to wrap around her in turn, and he let his defenses fall, resting his cheek against her hair. 

“I know you would,” he told her, slim fingers stroking the back of her dress. “I am sorry for doubting you, it is only that... I cannot help but doubt everyone, and everything.” 

“I know,” she said, trying her best to soothe him, as was her duty. She looked up at him, brushing his hair out of his forehead, and smiled. “Let us sit again, and eat. I am hungry, and you must be, as well.” She guided him back to the chair, and sat him down before asking the nearest servant for a bottle of wine they could share. Perhaps it would relax him a bit. 

She saw his eyebrow twitch when she asked for the wine, but he didn’t protest. Only stared down at his plate of food as if he didn’t quite know what it was, and occasionally glanced up at her to make sure she was still there.

\- - - 

Fandral had three girls in his bed. It wasn’t a record; once while away on Vanaheim, he’d been able to lure four of them at once to his chambers, and another had come without his persuasion at all. That had been tiring, almost to the extent of no longer being enjoyable, and so he learned that three was typically his limit. 

Dagny was tall and willowy, with long blonde hair that reached the small of her back. She was stretched out beside him, her chest against his back, running her fingers down his spine and smiling when it drew a shiver from him. She was from the city, the wife of one of the stable hands. Hjorda was a small little thing, her dark hair curly and unruly as she curled herself up to Fandral’s front. She was a servant girl, one who’s mother had dressed Lady Sif and combed her hair when she was a little girl. Hjorda had inherited her mother’s position, though Sif needed or wanted no help. Keidal was between the other two in hight, curvy and constantly smirking, with sizable breasts and a full belly. She beside Hjorda, her fingers resting on the other girl’s side. 

This was none of their first times in Fandral’s bed, nor would it be their last, he expected. Still, he supposed it was nice. Dagny was kissing his neck now, making him stretch it out to give her more room, and Keidal was reaching around Hjorda to smooth her hand down his side. In every sense, he was having a wonderful time, and he never wanted to have to rise for training or dinner. 

There was a knock on the door. No good thing could last forever. 

“Must you?” Fandral called over his shoulder, making Dagny giggle. 

“Fandral. You have not come to train with us for two days.” It was Hogun, sounding irritated. Fandral knew that this would end with him getting out of bed, but he would fight that ending tooth and nail. 

“I’m sure the two of you are doing wonderfully without me.” 

“We are the Warriors Three, not the Warriors Two.”

“Surely, you can do without me for a few days. I’ve been... rewarding myself.”

“For what?” Fandral could almost hear Hogun’s scowl. 

“For... surviving everyday life here in Asgard, when every day I am tempted by opportunities to wound or kill myself accidentally.” This made all three of the girls laugh, and Hogun opened the door. Hastily, Fandral moved to cover himself, though none of the ladies did. Either way, Hogun seemed unaffected. 

“It is time to get out of bed,” he said, grabbing the sheet and yanking it off. “How much have you had to drink?” 

“Today? Or in general?” 

“Today.” 

Fandral thought about it. “Two bottles of wine and a flagon and a half of ale.” 

“And it is not even dinner time yet. Come.” Hogun kicked the corner of the bed. Sensing Fandral was in trouble, Dagny and Hjorda got out of bed, rummaging to find which clothes on the floor were theirs. Keidal was a bit more stubborn, and Fandral could have kissed her for it. She wound her arms around his neck and pouted over at Hogun. 

“Now,” Hogun said again, raising an eyebrow. 

Fandral sighed, looking at Keidal. “It appears we shall have to resume this some other time.” 

She shrugged dejectedly. “Oh, I suppose. Though I shan’t be able to stop thinking of you, all day long.” 

“Of course, my darling. Just as I will not stop thinking of you.” 

“Get out.” Hogun threw her a dress, though whether it was hers or not was anyone’s guess. To her credit, she didn’t argue, just put the dress on and followed the other girls out. Fandral rolled his eyes and got up out of bed as well.

“Why must you ruin all of my fun?” 

Hogun didn’t say anything, only went over to Fandral’s weapons chest and took his sword in its scabbard, tossing it onto the foot of the bed. 

“Be on the training grounds in fifteen minutes,” he said, and then turned to leave. Fandral considered a retort, but thought better of it, giving in and getting up to put some clothes on. He supposed putting in some work would make his recreational activities all the more enjoyable. 

\- - - 

Loki wasn’t entirely positive when the plan was in place in his mind, nor how it got there in the first place. But as he watched Fandral stumble out to the training grounds, he knew what he had to do to ensure Sigyn’s loyalty. 

Pushing the library doors open and briskly heading over to the shelf reserved mostly for books on magic, he ran his fingers along the book spines until he found the one he was looking for, tapping it softly with his fingernail before pulling it from the others. He put it down on the nearest table, the one adjacent to one of the library’s only windows, and opened it. This wasn’t a book that just anyone should or could be looking at, and its pages were blank when Loki first began to turn its pages. He lay his palm flat against what would have been the book’s title page, and closed his eyes. A Jotun spell murmured from his lips, and text began to seep into the paper, warping it a little and making the entire book even thicker, its pages stiffer. 

Once he was confident that all the text had appeared, he began flicking the pages aside, until he reached the one he wanted. Long ago, when his mother had first begun to suspect that her son had a talent for magic, she had sat him on her lap and made him promise he would never do what he was about to so resolutely do. The title at the top of the page read only one word, ‘CONTROL’, and the text below was so small and complicated that Loki had to narrow his eyes a bit as he read. He found the incantation printed at the bottom of the page and read it in a whisper to himself, a few times, then dozens, repeating it over and over again to leave an imprint in his brain. 

He looked up from the book. He would have to be sure it would work. Traveling the room, his eyes settled on a woman searching a shelf for something. He subtly raised his hand, letting it stay at waist level and spreading his fingers out wide, his palm facing the woman. Concentrating, he recited the incantation, imagining his control as a black tendril that started at the woman’s feet, traveled up the fabric of her skirt to her spine, and settled itself at the base of her skull. Strings that he could pull and tug. He raised his hand a bit higher, and watched her drop hers from the shelf. He next put a thought in her head, as easy as inserting a dagger into a sheath. From searching for the book, the woman suddenly decided that she was hungry, and abruptly gathered her things and left. 

That was all it took, he thought miraculously. An incantation, some concentration, the mere insertion of a thought.  
All he would have to do was put Sigyn into Fandral’s head, and she would certainly stay there. He was weak, after all. 

\- - - 

“Are you feeling alright?” Sif asked, her breath coming in huffs as she swung her sword at the practice dummy. 

Sigyn shrugged, sitting down on one of the benches that lined the training grounds so ladies could watch their husbands, brothers, and lovers show off their skills. “I think so. Why do you ask?” 

“Because you never come to the training grounds. Not even when Loki is here.” She stood with her back to the straw figure and turned at the waist in a flash, throwing her blade and watching as it imbedded itself in the figure’s stomach. 

Sigyn looked down at the ground. “I’m fine. I only wanted to think.” 

“Then don’t let me distract you,” Sif said, walking over to yank her sword from the dummy’s stomach. “I only scarcely see you.” 

“No, I think this is something I must think of aloud. Though I would not want to distract you, either.”

Sif rolled her eyes. “As if you could distract me. I have had my blade meet flesh with far more distraction than you. Tell me what is on your mind. Though I must warn you, I am not an advisor, nor am I particularly skilled in speaking candidly of feelings.” 

“That’s alright. I think perhaps I may need an opinion like that. An opinion that does not put feelings into consideration, only common sense.” Sigyn crossed her legs, smoothing her skirt over them. “Loki has been acting strange lately.” 

“How can you tell?” Sif teased, arranging herself into a fighting stance. “Isn’t he always strange?”

“Stranger than usual,” Sigyn specified with a small smile. “He keeps saying things like... that I’m going to leave him. You haven’t said anything to him, have you?” 

Sif turned her head. “Of course not. Why would I say something like that to him? I have no reason.”

“I know you don’t. No one does, that’s just it. I don’t understand where he’s gotten the idea. But he’s so adamant about it. Whenever I reassure him, he seems persuaded for a while, but... whenever we have our next argument, he treats me as if I’ve been lying about it this whole time. He’s so paranoid.” 

“Well, can you blame him for being a bit paranoid?” Sif asked, taking a few experimental swings but keeping her feet planted firmly on the ground. “After all of those things Odin confessed to him only a few years ago... after Thor was banished. After being lied to for so long, it would make one a bit paranoid.” She thrust her blade into the figure’s chest this time, twisting it as if the dummy were a living thing that had done her wrong. 

“I suppose that’s true.” She wondered if she was being too unfeeling about it. If she should be comforting him more, and not feeling any sort of resentment for his behavior. “Do you think I’m being unreasonable?” 

“Oh, no. That would be extremely annoying.” Sif took her sword out of the straw, leaving a trail of yellow sprigs between the dummy’s base and her feet. “I don’t blame you whatsoever for being irritated. I may have had his head by now if I were you.” 

Sigyn laughed humorlessly. “Well, then, it’s a good thing I’m not you.”

“It is,” she agreed, and they fell into a tense silence that Sigyn couldn’t determine the cause of. Eventually, she spoke up again.

“What do you think I should do about it?” 

“Well...” Sif sighed, letting her sword fall to the ground, her ponytail whipping back and forth as she walked over and sat down next to Sigyn. “Things obviously can’t go on as they are. So you have to talk to him.” 

“But he won’t listen. He’ll only say that I’m lying to him, that I’m being unfaithful. How am I supposed to talk to him?” 

“I don’t know.” Sif sighed. “As I said, this isn’t my area of expertise. Would you rather take a swing at the dummy and pretend it’s him?” 

She let out a deep breath through closed lips, her cheeks puffing out. “...Yes, I think that would make me feel a bit better.” 

\- - - 

Fandral never saw much of Loki, and in truth, he’d have it no other way. He didn’t particularly enjoy Loki’s company; he was far too glum and serious for his tastes, and scarcely talked about anything worth listening to. So when Loki knocked on his door late at night, after Fandral’s latest group of girls had been long gone, he couldn’t help but be a bit suspicious.

He opened the door, and Loki was standing there, his hands clasped behind his back and a smile plastered on his face. “Good evening. Might I possibly come in?” 

Fandral looked him up and down. “Is something the matter?” 

“No, of course not. I thought perhaps we might have a drink. I’ve been having some... woman troubles, as of late, and thought you may be able to give me some advice.” 

Fandral frowned, but he’d had too much to drink to truly be wary of Loki’s intentions, so he stood aside and let him pass. 

“I don’t suppose you have any wine?” Loki asked, heading over to Fandral’s table and putting his hands down on the edge of it. “I know you’re fonder of ale.”

“I have wine,” Fandral told him, taking a bottle of it out of his cabinet. “You haven’t ever paid me a visit before. This must truly be a trying problem with Sigyn, to make you so desperate.” He poured the thick red wine into two cups, turning around to pass one of them to Loki. 

But Loki didn’t have a hand out to take the wine. Instead, his fingers were spread out, his palm inches from Fandral’s face. Instinctively, Fandral took a few steps back, but Loki didn’t seem to care about how far apart they were. He stared straight at him, his eyes darkening until they were nearly black, mumbling some strange words that Fandral didn’t understand. His head was beginning to fog, filling as if he’d had much more to drink than he remembered, and soon he fell forward onto his knees. Loki kept his tight watch on him, his hand coming down to rest against Fandral’s forehead. 

“Sigyn,” he said softly. 

“Sigyn,” Fandral found himself repeating, and her name felt so sweet on his lips, it caught him off guard. As if he was whispering the name of a princess, or a beauty of legend. “Sigyn.” 

“Is Lady Sigyn beautiful?” 

“...She is the most beautiful...” 

“Is Lady Sigyn kind?” 

“...The kindest lady in all of Asgard...”

“Do you love Lady Sigyn?” 

Fandral paused, having to think about it for a moment. He loved Sigyn’s white skin, her pink lips. Her dark hair, almost black but bronze in the sun. He loved her voice, even though she only ever blessed Loki with it.

“...I love Lady Sigyn.” 

\- - - 

The next day was dark, with big-bellied storm clouds gathering above the gardens and fields, as if tempting them with the promise of rain. Sigyn was sitting alone in the library, without any idea as to where Loki was, flipping through a story book as her eyes glazed over. She heard a rumble of thunder and glanced out the window, seeing Thor out on the training grounds, only just close enough for her to see, his hammer held in the air to summon the lightning. She smiled to herself. He did so love doing it, showing off his talents. Loki very scarcely showed off, even though he bragged his fair share. He preferred to do all of his best work where no one ever saw, in the backgrounds or underneath, seeing his results for himself. 

She was only vaguely aware of someone approaching her, but when she felt weight on the other side of the table she was sitting at, she turned her head. Fandral was sitting there, a smile on his face. She blinked, not thinking she’d ever been that close to him before. 

“...Is something wrong?” 

“No, no, of course not,” he said, looking at her with the oddest expression on his face she’d ever seen. She tried again.

“Do you want something?” 

“No. That is to say, yes. I was wondering if you would do me the honor of having lunch with me,” he asked, flashing her that charming smile. She stared at him, not quite knowing what to say. 

“Well, I... I’ve already had lunch.” 

“Oh.” That didn’t seem to deter him at all, in fact, if anything it looked as if it encouraged him. His smile stayed firmly in place, his face statuesque, the face of someone who practiced smiling in the mirror. “Well, then, some other time, perhaps. I would so like to get to know you a bit more.” 

“Is there something you want from me?” she asked again. “Did someone... did someone ask you to do this?” 

“Why on earth would someone do that?” He raised an eyebrow. “One would think that if they wanted to say something to you, they would do it themselves, so as to have an opportunity to look at your beautiful face.” 

She felt her cheeks and forehead get hot, her head get light. This wasn’t happening. “Fandral, I am married. I do not wish to offend you, but it is useless to turn your charms on to me.”

“Who said anything about charms?” He looked mockingly offended. “I’m only telling the truth. And I am asking you, Lady Sigyn, to grant me some of your time. I will not overreach my bounds. I only wish to look upon your face a bit longer.” He stood, offering her his hand. “Will you give me the honor of taking a walk about the gardens with me.” 

She watched his hand for a moment, just barely considering his offer. Then she thought of what Loki would say if he saw her walking about with Fandral, and shook her head. “No.” She stood. “I am sorry, Fandral. But I can’t.” She started walking away, but to her horror, he followed her. 

“Why not?” he asked, cutting her off and standing in front of the library doors.

“Because I am married. And I know what it is you want from me.” She weaved around him, not letting him stop her. He let out a groan and walked after her. 

“How do you know what I want from you? Perhaps I only want a friendship.” 

She turned to face him again. “You do not take friendships from women.”

“I take friendship from Sif.”

“Because she would kill you if you tried to take anything else.” 

“And you wouldn’t?”

“No,” she admitted, noting their significant height difference. “But my husband would. And he would take it gratuitously. So it would be best for you if you found another lady to seduce until you become bored with her.” She held her books firmly to her chest and turned around again, walking down the hallway. 

But he continued to follow her. “By that logic, I will never have any female friends beyond Sif.” 

“Because no female in the entire realm would be foolish enough to let you near.” 

He stopped then, letting her walk away and staring after her as if lost. She allowed herself no look back at him after he stopped following, letting out a sigh and returning to her and Loki’s bedroom. 

\- - - 

“You look awfully pleased with yourself,” Sif noted, sitting across the dinner table from Loki. They were among the small group of late diners, those who spent their days dedicated to something or other and lost track of the time. In Sif’s case, she’d been out in the training grounds again. It was nearly a week after Sigyn had spoken with her, and she hadn’t tried to come out and speak to her again, which Sif took as a sign that either Sigyn had spoken to Loki, or had just come to accept his behavior. She hoped it was the former. 

“And why shouldn’t I be?” Loki asked, not looking up at her as he cut into his meat. They were alone at the end of the table, the only two in the room who knew one another personally. “I have nothing to be displeased with.”

“That you know of,” Sif said, running a grape along her lower lip before pushing it into her mouth. “There is always a problem lying just under the surface. No true peace in Asgard.” 

“Was that a threat?” he asked. “Or a hint?” 

“Would you believe me if I said that it was both?” She raised an eyebrow. “...Your blushing lady thinks that something is the matter with you, or that she’s done something wrong. Can you tell me if it’s true?”

Immediately, there was a crack in Loki’s smooth facade, though he was quick to cover it up. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean. Sigyn has no reason to be unhappy.” 

“Doesn’t she?” Sif reached for her cup of wine. “She came to me about a week ago, and told me you were acting strange. Naturally, I was worried, so I’ve kept a close eye on her since then. I’ve noticed that you don’t treat her very well.”

“What did she say?” 

“If you harm her for what she said to me, I will hurt you,” Sif said, her smile gone, staring at him from across the table. “Perhaps kill you, depending on how foolish you are. Or if I get carried away.” 

“Tell me what she said.” They weren’t friends having dinner anymore. She was staring at him, and he was glaring back, and there was no love between them.

“She said that you’ve become preoccupied with the thought of her being unfaithful. Though I am not sure why, considering the thought of being unfaithful to you all but brings her to tears. How did you come to settle on this thought? Is it perhaps guilt?” Her frown turned up into a smirk. Loki let the briefest flash of rage disturb his expression, but it was gone soon enough. 

“I cannot feel guilty for something that hasn’t been done,” he said. 

“Not since the two of you were married, no. But there was a time you shared your bed with two women, and only one of them knew about the other.” 

“Stop. This has nothing to do with anything.” 

“How it must be eating away at you. Your obsession with keeping her all to yourself when you couldn’t even dedicate yourself fully to her. How you fell for my tricks just as easily as she fell for yours. It must be humiliating.” 

“Quiet!” he said sharply, standing. She watched him calmly, his lips drawn into a thin line, his eyes dark and threatening. But she wasn’t afraid of him. 

“I can be quiet,” she told him, standing up and taking the final drink from her cup. “But your mind will never be.” She put her cup down on the table with a hollow sound and left him alone, standing with the other late occupants of the dining hall staring at him for his outburst. Let him be stared at, she thought. Let him be humiliated. She no longer cared.

\- - - 

As soon as Fandral opened the door and saw Loki, he stepped aside, somehow aware that this was the man who was controlling his wants and actions. Loki handed him a bottle of wine and walked past him.

“How is she?”

Fandral stood looking down at the wine, as if he didn’t quite know what it was. “...My Lady Sigyn? She is beautiful. Her hair shines when the sun--“

“Yes, I know that,” Loki said sharply. “How are your advances toward her?” 

“Oh. A few weeks ago, I asked if she would have lunch with me. And then I asked if she would walk with me. She said no on both accounts.” 

“Is that all she said?” 

“I believe she said that ‘no female in the entire realm would be foolish enough to let me near’,” he recalled, his eyes cast downward. Loki almost felt sorry for him. 

“You must try harder,” he said, taking the bottle from his hands and pouring both of them a cup, Fandral’s much taller and fuller than his. “Women do not always see advances as being genuine. At times, persistence is key.”

“I do not want to frighten her off.”

“Do you frighten other women off with your advances?” Loki prompted him, handing him the cup of wine. Fandral almost instinctively raised it to his lips and took a large drink. “Do they not enjoy you?”

“What I feel for Sigyn is different than the others,” Fandral said, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. 

Loki felt something like jealousy stir in his chest, and perhaps a bit maliciously, cut in. “Well, it is too bad that you’ll never have her, then, isn’t it? Even if you do succeed, she’ll always come back to me. You may be able to please her, but you can’t make her love you.”

“Yes, I can,” Fandral said, still steady under the haziness of the spell. “I can make her love me. I can make any woman love me.”

Loki’s scowl melted into a smile. “That’s the spirit. Now, you must first approach her in friendship, or this will never work.”

“Friendship,” Fandral repeated.

“That’s right. Tomorrow, ask her to walk with you again. Then, as you’re walking, I will do something to be sure she gains trust for you. Don’t worry what, you’ll have forgotten about it by then, anyway. But I know you will do the right thing and protect her.” He put a hand on Fandral’s shoulder. “Won’t you?”

“I will protect her,” Fandral said with a nod. 

“Good. Enjoy the wine. Try not to drink the whole bottle at once.” Loki let his hand drop and left the room, leaving Fandral alone with the bottle of wine and two full cups. 

\- - - 

“I’m going to ask you to come walk with me again,” Fandral said, sliding into what Sigyn desperately hoped wasn’t going to become ‘his seat’ across from hers in the library. “But this time, you’re going to think before you answer. And imagine walking out in the gardens, having a chat. It isn’t as if I’m going to try to hold your hand or kiss you. All I want is a walk, so that I can see Sigyn as someone besides Loki’s wife.” He put his hands down on the table in front of him. 

Sigyn’s first instinct was to, of course, refuse him again, but at his last sentence, she stopped herself. Someone besides Loki’s wife. Did anyone else make any effort to look at her beyond that? Did Sif, even? They hadn’t talked about anything that wasn’t related to Loki for a very long while. Was that what he was luring her with? 

Tight-lipped, she looked down at his hands, his fingers spread out and still, showing her that he wasn’t going to do anything with him, she supposed. “...Very well. I will walk the gardens with you today. Once. But afterwards, you won’t ask me to do it again, and if I am uncomfortable and would rather leave, you will not try to stop me.” 

“Any other conditions?” 

“You will be a gentleman. You will make no references to any part of my body unless I have an insect on it.” 

“I think I can settle for that.” 

“And,” she said, before he could get too comfortable, “you are to walk beside me. Not a few paces behind me so as to gawk at my backside. Is that clear?” 

“Incredibly so.” He beamed, standing up. “Come. The gardens are beautiful at this time of year, when Thor is not ruining them with storms.”

And she let him. She let him lead her out of the library, and out to the gardens, where the sun was beaming down through the tallest plants and striking down on the smallest ones. Most of the summer flowers hadn’t started blooming yet, but a few of the spring ones were still open. Fandral picked one of them to give to her, but she shook her head, letting the flower fall back into the leaves. 

“How did you come to live in the city?” Fandral asked, keeping the conversation away from Loki, as he’d intended. Sigyn shrugged. 

“I’ve always lived here, ever since I was younger. My mother worked in the gardens here. When I was a child she used to teach me the magic they use to make the flowers grow so big and for so long.” She reached down and picked up a flower that was wilting, closing her eyes and making it spring back to life between her fingers, its petals big and vibrant. 

Fandral took it from her, and when she opened her mouth to protest, he said quickly, “You said I was not to give you flowers. You said nothing about taking flowers from you.” 

And so, of course, she had to allow it. As they walked, she watched him tuck the flower away into his pocket, but she didn’t say anything. She supposed she could let him have his bit of fun, though she still didn’t know what he had to gain from it. 

“May I ask you a question?” she asked, as they reached a fountain and she sat down on the edge of it. “A bit of a personal one, I’m afraid.” 

“Of course.” He smiled, sitting next to her. 

“You mustn’t be offended, but... you have quite the reputation, to put it delicately. Women... drink... And yet you are one of the most renowned warriors in all of Asgard, and even Thor has said he trusts no one more than you with a blade. But one must wonder... that is to say, my question is... why? Why, with such a large reputation and wonderful skills, would you spend your time drinking and bedding women? It doesn’t make any sense to me.” 

He twisted his lips to the side, thinking about his answer. 

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “If I’ve offended you. I know it isn’t a proper thing to say, I only want to get it out of the way, if we’re to be f-friends.” She stumbled over the word, hardly believing she was even saying it.

“No, no,” he said, raising a hand to put on her shoulder before remembering he wasn’t supposed to touch her and thinking better of it. “I should tell you. Or... try to. It’s only fair. I’m asking so much from you.” He looked over his shoulder at the fountain for a moment. “I used to be married.” 

Sigyn’s eyes widened. “Married? That must have been so long ago.” 

He rolled his eyes. “Thank you for having so much faith in my ability to be in a stable relationship. But yes, it was a long time ago. I was living on Midgard at the time, and I’d made a bit of a name for myself. I was a thief, though I never kept the things I stole.” 

“What did you do with them?” 

“I gave them to those who needed them. I am a god on Midgard, Sigyn, I have no need for their gold, or their jewels. But one day, I robbed a carriage, and there was a woman inside. She stopped me from robbing it. She chased me, and ran me down, taking her riches back. But when she looked at me, it was as if she saw immediately that I was Aesir, and not human. She wanted to see me again, and again after that.” 

Sigyn listened to him quietly, nodding when she felt it appropriate. Eventually, she asked, “What was her name?” 

“Marian,” Fandral said, looking off into the garden. “Her name was Marian. We were married not a year after we met. It seemed such an obvious thing to do, considering how fond we were of one another. We had no children, because eventually I had to tell her what I really was. She was angry with me. She pushed me, and cried, because she knew that I would live thousands and thousands of years after she was gone, love other women, perhaps even have children with them.” 

“That must have made her feel terrible.” Sigyn frowned. “Like she wouldn’t have even been a big part of your life in the long run.” 

“She forgave me,” Fandral assured her. “We lived a full life together. But when she was getting older, and it began to show in her face... I started to panic. In only a few decades, she would be gone, and I would be left alone.” He sighed. “But there was nothing I could do but love her as she grew old, as she lost her memory, as her body weakened. When I buried her, she had only lived for eighty-two years. I can hardly imagine only living for less than a century. After that, I returned to Asgard, but I told no one about Marian. Except, now, of course, you.” 

Sigyn stayed quiet for a long moment, mulling over what he just told her. “So... when you drink, and take all of those women...” 

“It is because I would rather forget what it is like to love someone,” he said, with a weak smile. “It does not always end well. But there are times when I think I can remember,” he added, looking over at Sigyn. She looked away from him immediately. 

“Fandral... I think it is honorable that you would want such a love again. But I cannot give it to you, you must understand that.” 

“I do,” he said. “And I will not make you do something you would not do willingly. But please understand that even if you do not share my feelings, they are real. So please, grant me some time spent with you, and let me enjoy your company. That is all I ask for.” 

She gave a little nod. “...I will,” she said. “I will do that for you. I will... be your friend, Fandral.” 

He grinned, and stood up again. “Good, now why don’t we--“ 

Suddenly, Sigyn let out a shriek. From the fountain darted the long form of a serpent, its teeth bared as it wrapped itself around Sigyn’s neck. She gasped, her fingers clutching at the snake’s oily black scales, and fell back into the fountain, into the water. She couldn’t breathe. Her eyes opened wide, she saw the distorted form of Fandral leap into the fountain after her, and reach into the water. When his fists wrapped around the snake’s body to pull it free, he couldn’t; it was too strong. The snake raised its head to hiss at him with bright green eyes. 

Sigyn was beginning to lose consciousness, her eyes falling closed. Then, there was a gurgling screech, and the snake’s hold relented. She opened her eyes again, halfway. The water was clouded with dark blood, and Fandral was tearing the snake away from her, a dagger that he’d taken from his belt clutched in his hand. He threw the snake on the ground beside the fountain and crouched in the water to lift Sigyn into his arms. 

She coughed up water against his chest, gasping for air. He stepped out of the fountain with her and set her down in the grass, supporting her with a hand against her back. “Are you alright?” 

“I...” She coughed. “I think so. What... what was...” She turned her head, seeing the snake’s body cut in two and bleeding on the grass. “A snake. Only a snake. It felt so strong...” 

“It was,” he said. “Unusually strong for a snake. Fortunately for us, there is no such thing as unusually strong flesh where a blade is concerned.” 

She would have rolled her eyes at him ordinarily. “Thank you,” she told him, wiping her wet hair away from her eyes. “I’ve gotten you all wet.” 

“We will dry if we walk around a bit more,” he said with a smile. “If you can manage it. I could always carry you--“ 

“No,” she said, standing up and wringing the skirt of her dress out. She was beginning to feel more like herself again, though her legs felt weak with the fright of almost drowning. “I can walk myself around the gardens, thank you. How silly we’ll look to the gardeners.” 

“I’m surprised no one saw what happened,” Fandral admitted, looking around. But no one seemed to be anywhere near them. “It’s strange.”  
“Yes,” she agreed. “Strange. But I suppose they’ve taken a break to eat. No gardeners can work all day, after all.” She straightened herself out, trying to look dignified even while soaking. “I am ready to keep walking.” 

“Then off we go again.” He grinned. “Never let it be said that the Lady Sigyn can be deterred by a beast and a bit of water.” 

She almost laughed as she kept walking with him, swatting his hand away when he tried to take her arm. 

\- - - 

Loki felt a roaring pain in his abdomen when Fandral cut his snake in half. He knew that he himself would not be cut, but putting a part of his consciousness into the snake, so that it could attack Sigyn without killing her, did have its disadvantages. He fell to his knees in the grass behind the hedge, doubled over.

“Loki?” He heard a bemused voice behind him, and looked up. It was Sif, leaning on her spear like a walking stick. She smirked. “Having your monthly pains?” 

“No,” he snapped, straightening up even though it still hurt. “You would do well to mind your own business, Lady Sif,” he spat, pushing past her to walk back to the palace. She watched him walk with a skeptical expression, shaking her head and following after him once he was far enough away that she wouldn’t have to talk to him. 

\- - - 

“Things are certainly getting odd around here,” Sif thought aloud to herself, about a month later, as the weather was getting chillier, the leaves starting to turn gold and red. 

Sigyn looked over at her, wrapping her shawl tighter around her shoulders. “How so?” 

“How so? Don’t tell me you haven’t been spending quite a bit of time with Fandral lately. What is he trying to do, upset Loki by getting close to you?” 

“It wouldn’t upset Loki,” Sigyn said, even though in her heart she knew that it certainly would. He would be furious. But she’d be lying to herself if she said that it wasn’t part of the reason she was still doing it. If he wanted something to be suspicious about, he could have it. She still wasn’t going to be unfaithful to him. “Or... it shouldn’t upset him. I’m allowed to have friends, after all. Keeping me from spending time with anyone besides him would be a horrible thing to do.” 

“Which means I wouldn’t put it past him.” Sif looked up at the warm-colored trees. “Just be careful, promise me that. Loki may not mean to be as horrible as he is, but he can be twice as horrible as you’d think.” 

“I know,” she said. “I married him, didn’t I? I married his horribleness, too.” She sighed, picking up a star-shaped leaf and turning it around in her hands. “I’m not a fool. I know half of the time he doesn’t mean it, but the other half of the time he does. He isn’t innocent, as he would have you believe. Being horrible isn’t some sort of disfigurement that you can’t help.” 

Sif nodded. “Even if he acts as though it is.” 

“He does, doesn’t he?” They shared a laugh, Sigyn pushing her hair back away from her eyes. “I know that Fandral can be horrible, too.” 

“We all can be horrible,” Sif considered. “Men more than usual, it seems. Fandral isn’t as horrible as Loki. At least he legitimately never means it. Although he does mean it when he drinks three bottles of wine in an afternoon.” 

“He hasn’t done that so much lately,” Sigyn said. “He’s never drunk when we’re together. Though he always offers me some wine. I don’t think he wants to be unless I am, too. I suppose I can understand that.” 

“Do you ever accept it?” Sif asked. 

Sigyn shook her head. “No. I would rather not, not yet.” 

“You don’t trust him,” Sif guessed. 

“No, it is not that. He’s proven to me that he’s trustworthy. But even the most honorable of people do foolish things when they’ve had too much to drink. I don’t want to be one of those people.” She smiled a little. “I don’t want to do anything that might prove Loki right.” 

Sif shrugged. “Drink doesn’t change one’s personality. Only magnifies it, in a way. I don’t think that there would be any harm in having a bit of fun with him.”

“Have you ever?” Sigyn raised her eyebrows. 

“Yes.” Sif laughed. “Don’t look at me that way. To drink is not a sin. And Fandral is a very fit companion when you’ve had too much to drink.” 

“So you think that I should... accept his offer?” Sigyn frowned. 

“I think that you should do what you want,” Sif clarified. “I think that if you stop and think whether Loki would be angry with you for it or not, it is a clear sign that you should do it. For yourself.” She grinned. “Be a free woman.” 

\- - - 

“I never thought you a sentimental person,” Sigyn said, as she and Fandral sat out on the edge of one of Asgard’s many stone balconies, a bottle of wine sitting between them, which they occasionally poured into their separate cups. “But this is beautiful.” It was. The sky was scattered with stars, the air around them deafeningly silent. 

“And I never thought you would say yes to a drink,” Fandral said. “We all have our surprising sides, I suppose.” He topped off her cup and handed it back to her. “Why did you say yes this time? What was different?” 

“I just gave up, I suppose,” she said, taking a sip. “On being proper. I’ve only ever had a drink in my life when Loki was with me, and he isn’t exactly a pleasant drunk.” 

“He strikes me as a miserable one,” Fandral teased. “A lot of sulking. Possibly crying, depending on how much he’s had.” 

“You aren’t that far off.” Sigyn laughed. “He gets moody even when he hasn’t had anything to drink, so you can imagine what it’s like when he has. He doesn’t do it often, which is, I suppose, the only good thing about it. Not like...” She blushed, realizing what she was about to say. 

“Not like me?” Fandral raised an eyebrow. 

“That isn’t what I meant,” she said quickly. “Well, that is to say, I didn’t mean that you do it too much...” 

“I do, though,” he said, shaking his head. “I know it. Hogun reminds me of it on a daily basis, though he’s the only one who seems to care.” 

“I care,” Sigyn said, with a little smile. 

He looked over at her, at her sweet round face and full lips, and took the chance before he could truly think about what he was doing. He leaned in, the hand that wasn’t holding his cup touching the side of her face, and kissed her. Sigyn closed her eyes, on instinct, but they snapped open again as the realization struck her. She pushed him back, making him spill the cup of wine all over his front and nearly making him fall down into the courtyard. 

“What are you doing?” she demanded, getting off of the balcony and hugging herself. “Fandral, damn you!” 

“I’m sorry,” he said quickly, letting the cup fall and holding his hands up. “I’m sorry, Sigyn. That was foolish of me. I won’t do it again.” 

“No, you won’t do it again,” she said, staring at him and shaking her head. “...I trusted you. I can’t believe I trusted you. I listened to your story, and I let my guard down, and you did what you do to all the other girls.” 

He pressed his lips together. “That isn’t true.” 

“I’m done with this. Whatever it is,” she said, turning to leave. “I shouldn’t have ever let you near. It’s just as I said. Only a foolish woman would.” 

“Sigyn.” He reached out and grabbed her arm, but she tore it away, whipping back around to face him. He saw tears streaming down her face and immediately felt a jolt of guilt. “I promise you. I will never do anything like that again.” 

“Your promises mean nothing,” she said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand and leaving, closing the doors behind her. Fandral sighed, running a hand down his face and leaning back against the balcony. She was right. They did mean nothing. 

\- - - 

“Loki.” Sigyn stood with her back to their bedroom door. Loki was sitting in bed reading, but he looked up when Sigyn had come in and abruptly shut the door behind her. This was it. Fandral had finally delivered. 

“What is it, darling?” he asked, closing his book and going to her. She buried her face in his chest, sobbing and clutching at the fabric of his tunic. He looked down at her. “What’s happened?” 

“I’m sorry,” she said, coughing with how hard she was crying. “I’m so sorry.” 

“What are you talking about?” he asked, his voice hollow. “What do you have to be sorry about? You’re frightening me a bit, Sigyn.” 

“I was.... I-I was with Fandral,” she said, trying to slow her breathing so she would make more sense. “We made friends, I’ve been walking with him and talking with him, and tonight we were sitting out on the balcony and he kissed me. I pushed him, I pushed him away, I promise. Oh, Loki, I’m so sorry. I don’t know why I trusted him. I am a fool!” She went to bury her face in his chest again but he stepped away from her. 

“...You’ve been with Fandral?” he asked softly. 

“I told you, only walking and talking. And eating. Nothing more.”

“But you kissed him.” 

“No, listen to me. He kissed me. He took my face, and he kissed me, but I pushed him back. I did. He did it to me, I didn’t want him to.” 

“But you did,” Loki said, watching her with piercing eyes. “You did want him to. You’ve been seeing him this whole time, walking with him. He’s got you under his spell.” 

“No!” she shouted. “That isn’t what happened!”

“I don’t know why I feel so hurt, so betrayed, when I knew that this was coming all along,” he said numbly, starting to walk around her to the door. “I knew that you could never be faithful to me, and I was right. And Fandral, of all people?”

“I thought that we were friends,” she said. “He said we would only be friends.”

“And you believed him?” Loki raised his voice. “Sigyn, I’m surprised, even at you. I didn’t know you could possibly be that stupid. So Fandral takes you for a walk, kills a little snake that frightened you, and suddenly he’s your savior? I’ve a feeling that taking walks and talking are not all you’ve done with him.” 

“No, I didn’t... Wait.” She paused, her eyes narrowing in confusion. “...I never told you about the snake. How did you...” Realization dawned on her, her face paling in horror. “No... you didn’t.” 

“I sent the snake. I sent Fandral. I’ve been doing all of this,” Loki spat. “I had to. To prove what I knew to be true. And look, I have proven it.” 

She stared at him, her lower lip trembling. “You did this...? All of this? Just to... just to make me feel like I was unfaithful?” 

“You are unfaithful,” he said. “You’ve just told me so. And you can find yourself a husband who will take you now, after Fandral’s been done with you.” He left, slamming the door behind him.

Sigyn fell to her knees on the rug in front of their bed, reaching her hands up to curl in her hair as she cried. She didn’t know what she’d done to deserve this. She never gave Loki any reason to believe anything but the best of her. She devoted her entire life to him. So where had she gone wrong? She lay down on the floor and curled up, shutting her eyes tight and wishing she was gone. 

\- - - 

Loki went directly to Fandral’s room to remove the spell, satisfied that he had proven himself right but feeling heavy, part of him having hoped that she would have still relented. With a sigh, he opened the door, seeing Fandral sitting by the window. When he turned around to face him, his eyes were glazed with the spell, and he stood as if waiting for orders.

Instead, Loki put a hand to Fandral’s forehead and said the incantation again, backwards. “You have done your duty,” he said afterwards. “I release you from my service. You are a free man once more.”

The glaze was gone from Fandral’s eyes, and he shook his head as if he’d been woken up from a deep sleep. “What... what’s happened? How much have I had to drink?” 

“Quite a bit,” Loki said with a tight smile. “You had fallen. I only just helped you up. But I was on my way out, so if you’ll excuse me.” 

Fandral frowned, rubbing his eyes. “...I have to find Sigyn,” he muttered. “I have to apologize, or she will hate me forever. Do you know where she is?” 

Loki froze, peering into Fandral’s face. Had the counterspell not worked? It should have erased Fandral’s memory as well as all of his false desires to seduce her. He put his hand to Fandral’s forehead again, but the other man stepped back.

“What are you doing? Stop that. I want no spells. I only want to tell Sigyn how sorry I am.” 

“What need have you to find Sigyn?” Loki demanded. 

Fandral looked down at the floor in thought, his forehead creased in concentration. “...We... had an argument, did we not? I said something wrong. She will never forgive me if I do not make this right.” 

“Leave her,” Loki said impatiently. “She does not want to see you.” 

“But I want to see her.” Fandral drew himself to his full height. “It seems to me, Loki, that you are trying to stop my seeing her. I think that you should step aside.” 

“You do not need to see Sigyn. She means nothing to you!” 

“She means the world to me!” 

Loki reached out and grabbed Fandral by the neck, but he had been expecting the attack. His arm came up hard and slammed into Loki’s with a crack, sending the trickster stumbling back. Fandral grabbed Loki’s broken arm and drawing a hiss from him. “Why are you so adamant that I not see her?” 

“The spell, why isn’t the spell working...?” 

“What spell?” Fandral grabbed Loki by the collar. “Loki. What have you done? Tell me! Or I will go find out on my own.” 

“Then find out on your own!” Loki spat. “Go find Sigyn. The two of you deserve one another!” Fandral let go of his arm, letting him crumple to the floor, cradling his arm. Loki watched Fandral leave the room, the door remaining gaping open behind him. 

\- - - 

Sigyn folded the letter she’d written Loki neatly in half, resting it on their mantle and watching it for a moment before stepping away. She could still tear the letter up and change her mind, but she didn’t want to. Picking out a dress to wear, she pulled it over her shoulders and laced up the back as best she could, making herself look pretty in the mirror before leaving and locking the door behind her, so that Loki would be the first to read the letter no matter what. 

She walked through the palace halls, watching people pass her, without even looking at her. Did anyone even truly look at her when Loki wasn’t there? She was pushed aside by someone in a hurry, with a rushed apology that had no true feeling behind it. Stopping to look around at everything she was leaving behind her, she pressed her lips together. She would miss it. But truly, if who the Midgardians called the goddess of fidelity could not be loyal, there was no need, no use for her. 

She wasn’t certain how long it took her to walk to the Bifrost, but once she was there, the sun was beginning to set. She could already see the stars blossoming to life in the sky, the swirled colors of the universe around her making her feel as if perhaps there was something more welcome at the end of her leap. 

She took off her shoes so that she could better feel the bridge beneath her, staticky and prickly, like losing feeling in a hand or foot. She walked slowly to the edge until her toes were off, and she could see the stars below her feet. A breeze drifted in from the stars, and ruffled her hair around her shoulders as she spread her arms out wide and fell forward. 

At the moment she did, she heard a shout behind her, and strong arms wrapped around her middle. She shrieked, and clawed at Fandral’s shoulders as he caught her and lifted her off of the edge of the bridge. 

“What were you doing?” he demanded breathlessly, holding her under her back and legs. “You could have died!” 

“I want to!” she yelled, squirming to get out of his grip. “Let me go! Let me do it!” 

“If you think I’m going to let you go now, you’re mad!” 

“Let go of me!” she screamed in his ear. He held her against his chest to stop her moving and looked around for help. Heimdall was at the other end of the bridge, and he could not abandon his post. Fandral was alone. Holding her tight against him, he started off of the bridge. 

As he fell into a run with her, she stopped fighting and broke down, shutting her eyes tight and crying against his chest, so hard her slight body shook and he thought she might be having trouble breathing. Once he made it to a more densely populated area, he shouted for a healer, and got help before he could get her to the palace himself. Iduna took Sigyn from him with surprisingly strong arms and cradled her like a child, telling him to come with them so that she could look at him as well.

“Why?” he asked, frowning. “That is to say, of course I will come. I was going to come no matter what. But why look at me? No harm came to me.” 

“I must speak with you,” Iduna said, giving him a look that made him cold with fear. A look of pity. “We must... see what Loki’s done to your mind.” 

“To my mind?” She was already walking away, but Fandral followed her as quickly as he could. “What are you saying?” 

“Please. We need to make certain Sigyn is safe. I will explain everything to you, Fandral, I promise you that.” In Iduna’s arms, Sigyn was still, her eyes closed and her face pale, tears drying on her cheeks. 

Fandral wanted to ask so many questions, wanted to know if Sigyn would be alright, but one look at her and he knew this wasn’t the time for questions. He followed after Iduna, though unsure if he was truly ready for what she was going to tell him. 

\- - - 

When Sigyn opened her eyes, all she could see was white. Then, slowly, forms started to take shape in the blankness, and one of those forms had Fandral’s gold hair. He was sitting at her bedside, watching her anxiously, and when she finally woke, his eyes lit up with hope. 

“Sigyn...? Can you hear me, darling?” 

“Don’t call me that,” she muttered weakly, turning her head to the side to half-hide it against the pillow. “Where.... Where am I?” 

“In the healing wing,” he explained. “Iduna has said that there is nothing... physically the matter with you, but that you are very shaken. She thinks it best if you stay under her watch until you feel better.” 

“Then I will be here forever,” she said with a sigh. “Because I will never feel better.” She hugged herself, wishing she could sink into the bed and never be forced to resurface. “You must go, Fandral. Your feelings are tricking you. You do not even truly want to be here.” 

“Yes, I do,” he said firmly. “Iduna has told me everything, Sigyn. She took a look inside my mind, and do you know what she found?” 

“I would really rather not know.”

“Nothing,” he said. “She found nothing. No trace of magic, no remains of the spell. Loki completely removed it from me, and I still love you.” 

“You only began to love me when the spell was cast on you,” she said, finally looking him in the eye. “Before, you would never want anything from me, save for what is underneath my clothes. Loki’s spell made you love me. And just because he removed the spell does not mean that the results of the spell don’t remain.” 

“Sigyn... do you honestly and truly think that I would not know my true feelings when it comes to something like this? Do you think that I am not scared to death? Do you think I don’t remember what happened to me the last time I loved someone this way?” 

“Do not compare me to Marian,” Sigyn warned, her eyes narrowing. “I do not want to be another of your sad stories, Fandral. I do not want to be remembered as a prize lost, something you tell your other girls about to get them to shed tears for you.” 

Fandral stared at her, his expression stricken. “After all I told you, would you really dare look me in the eye and suggest that Marian was a prize lost?” 

“I would dare to believe that I understand you based on your usual behavior,” she said, looking away from him again. “And with what everyone has been doing to me... I do not know who to believe anymore. I don’t think that I can believe anyone.” 

Fandral shook his head, reaching up and running a hand over his hair. “...It hurts me that you think that. Contrary to what you believe, I have never told that story to anyone before. You were the first.” 

Sigyn didn’t say anything. Fandral continued. 

“But the one thing you should have taken from my story is that, though I do not feel often, I never feel partially, or slightly. I feel with my entire heart. I felt for Marian with my entire heart, and I feel the same for you. I have been broken once before, and by refusing to believe in me, you may break me a second time.” 

Sigyn pressed her lips together. “...I do not want to be responsible for fixing you.” 

“You would not have needed to fix me,” Fandral said, standing. “Only hold me together in one piece. And I would be lying if I said that I understood what you were saying. But I still love you, Sigyn. And so if there is ever anything you want, all you need do is ask it of me. Because I will not go back to my women this time. You have bewitched me more than Loki has, and I fear I will never be the same.” He gave her a little nod. “And I accept that. I hope that you will, too. Goodbye, Sigyn.” 

He stood and left, and she didn’t stop him. Once he was gone, and she was alone again, she curled up and pulled the sheets of the bed over her head so that no one could see that she was still crying even now. 

\- - - 

Sif knew where to strike where it hurt. 

Loki was on the floor before he even knew what hit him. She’d kicked his bedroom door down and attacked as soon as she saw him, ripping Sigyn’s letter from his hands and pushing him to the floor with a foot to his chest. 

“Are you happy?” she demanded. “Are you pleased now that you’ve proven what you supposedly ‘knew all along’? Are you satisfied now that you’ve made that sweet girl try to take her own life? Do you truly gain that much happiness from the misery of others? I can hardly believe you. This is something I thought too grim even for you to think up, but it seems I underestimated your hatefulness.” 

He got to his feet, and she didn’t try to stop him. “No,” he said simply. “I’m not happy.” 

“Well, there are small miracles, after all,” she sneered.

“I do not think myself capable of miracles.” 

She struck him, making him stumble back. It wasn’t with the flat of her hand, or even the back of it, but her knuckles, her fingers curled into a tight fist. He touched his cheek where she’d hit him, his eyes widening. 

“No,” she agreed. “You are not. You are incapable of anything good. There is no good in you, Loki. And when I see that there is a tiny sliver, you smother it!” 

“You’re right.” 

“Sigyn did absolutely nothing to you!” 

“I know.” 

“And you still made her feel as if she had something impossible to prove!” 

“I did.” 

“I hate you.” 

“So do I.” He nodded, keeping his face blank. 

Sif felt some of her roaring anger subside, only to be replaced with frustration. “Why don’t you argue with me? Why don’t you fight back?” 

“Because there is nothing to fight,” Loki said, leaning over and picking up Sigyn’s letter off the floor. He walked over to the mantle, where two candles were burning, and held the letter over the flame of one. “Everything you say is true.” 

“Stop. Why do you burn it!?” Sif stepped forward to take the letter from him, but Loki dipped it into the flame, which clung to it and spread its blackness faster than Sif could stop it. 

“Because it is over and done. And Sigyn’s love for me will burn away just the same.” He let the remaining, curled scrap of the letter fall into the candle’s wax.

“You know that it isn’t that simple, Loki.” 

“No, it never is, is it?” He stepped in and kissed her. For a moment, Sif remembered how he used to kiss her, before she’d promised herself to Thor, and she allowed herself a moment to kiss him back. But once she was through, she pushed him back, hearing the thud of his back hitting the mantle. 

“Fix this,” she said. “I do not care how. But fix it, and soon. Sigyn does not deserve any of this, and neither does Fandral. You have ruined the lives of two of my friends, and if you do not find some way to correct it, then I will ensure that I cause you an equal amount of pain, if not greater.” 

“I do not know how to fix it.” 

She laughed harshly at him. “You are Loki. God of Mischief. You can fix anything if it is worth your while to be fixed. Do whatever you must do, no matter the expense to yourself. You owe them that much.” 

Loki grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her again. This time, she was harsher, striking him again in the same place so that it hurt twice as much as it did before. 

“And do not touch me again unless I touch you first.” She shook her head at him, wrinkling her nose in disgust as he rubbed his face. “You make me sick to look at you.” 

“You aren’t alone in that,” he said, managing a weak, wry smile. “Now, leave me. I imagine I have a great deal of thinking to do.” 

\- - - 

Iduna had Sigyn moved into a bedroom, the one that she supposed would be her bedroom now that she and Loki were no longer going to be married, and instead of lying in bed all day, miserable, Sigyn took to rearranging the room to her liking. She lined up books the servants brought to her on the shelves mounted to the walls, and when someone knocked on the door she was folding her gowns, arranging them in her wardrobe. 

“...Come in,” she said, rather reluctantly. 

Loki came through the door, and immediately Sigyn knew she wasn’t ready to see him. She felt the tears return, and hated how pathetic they made her feel as she hid her face in the dress she was holding. 

“Please leave.” 

“I will,” he said. “But first, there is something I must tell you. Will you listen to me before sending me away?” 

“I don’t have any reason to listen to you, not anymore.” 

“I know. But you will want to hear what I have to say. If you hear me, you have a very good chance of being happy again one day, without me.”

She let the fabric of the dress fall from her face, and grudgingly looked up at him, curious but also dreading whatever he was going to say. 

“The spell that I used on Fandral was a very simple control spell,” he said simply. “From a book that both you and I have read. You know the spell, even if you pretend that you don’t, because you’re clever, and I know you are. But you pretend not to know things that you don’t want to know.” 

Sigyn listened to him, saying nothing. 

“The spell does nothing but control his actions. I forced his words and his body, but I cannot force emotion. It is incredibly difficult to do so with magic, and even if I wanted to, it would have been too much of a risk, because... I did not truly want him to have you. In the end, I was only going to remove the spell and have him return to normal. But when I did remove the spell, he was still infatuated with you. And I could not do that with magic. Not the sort of magic I used to control him.” 

She kept staring at him, hardly believing what he was saying. 

“So if you cannot believe the words that come from his mouth, believe me, the spellcaster who did this to the two of you. Fandral’s feelings for you, as much as I despise that they exist, are real.” He looked away, sighing softly. “And I think that... because I have done so much to destroy everything around you, you are entitled to your rebuilding. Which... he may very well be able to do for you.” 

She felt as if she were going to cry again, her lips tightening. “...Why are you telling me this?” she asked. “You are so selfish...” 

“You’re right. I am selfish,” he said. “But even a liar must tell the truth every once in a while, don’t you think?” He inclined his head, and then turned to leave. 

“Are you lying to me now?” she asked softly. 

“...No,” he said, after a moment of silence. “Fandral... is very much in love with you, by some miracle. It was not my spell that did it. It was you. You don’t give yourself anywhere near enough credit.” His chest heavy and pained, he left, closing the door behind him. 

\- - - 

After he left Sigyn’s room, he went back to his own, starting to pack some clothes and magic tools into a satchel. When he looked up, Sif was standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame of it. 

“So you told her, then.” 

“Yes. Just as you wanted me to.” 

“I asked you to fix it. I didn’t say how.” 

He continued taking things from shelves and drawers and packing them. Sif watched with barely-contained interest. 

“Where are you going?” 

“Somewhere else. A different realm. Perhaps one I have never been to before. One where I can put my destructive powers to better use.” 

“I certainly hope you’re joking.” 

“I hope so, too.” 

She smiled a little, though it was sad, and seemed to hurt her. “Am I ever going to see you again?” 

Loki’s hands stopped on the close of his pack, and he looked over at her without looking her in the eye. “...I don’t know,” he said softly. “And if you do... it will no doubt be under very different circumstances than now.” 

Sif nodded. “...Loki?” 

“Yes?” he asked, slipping the satchel over his shoulder. 

“I will miss you. Even if I despise you, even if I want nothing but to bury my sword in you, I know there is a part of me that will miss you.”

He smiled, crossing the room and standing in front of her before leaning in and pressing a kiss to her forehead. Surprisingly, she didn’t object; only closed her eyes and let him.

“No, you won’t,” he told her, giving her shoulder a squeeze before leaving. She watched him walk down the hall, further and further until he turned a corner and she couldn’t see him anymore. 

\- - - 

Fandral knew that he could find Sigyn in the library. He walked over to where she was sitting in the window seat, a book sitting open on her knees, and sat across from her. When she looked up and saw him, her face crumpled, and she looked back down again. It struck him that he hadn’t seen her smile since they had been drinking on the balcony, what seemed like ages ago. He reached across and touched the hand that rested on the top of the page she was on, his own hand big and coarse next to hers. 

“Is there any way that I could help you?” he asked. 

She nodded slowly. “You could be honest with me.” 

“That is an easy thing to do.” He smiled at her a little. “Love is essentially honesty, after all. And I have never been dishonest with you once.” 

“Once you said that you were never going to kiss me,” she pointed out. “And you did. That was dishonest.” 

“I had no intention of kissing you. It happened... without much control on my part.”

“Would you like to make it up to me?” 

His eyebrows raised. “There is a way I can make it up to you? If so, please tell me. I will do it, tenfold if I must.” 

She closed her book, and set it aside, shifting to sit on her knees and take both of his hands in her smaller ones. “Say that you’re going to kiss me. And then do it. I’m going to close my eyes.” 

She did, and he felt a grin spread across his face. “I’m going to kiss you,” he said, and leaned in to press his lips against hers. 

“Will you always be faithful to me?” she asked against his lips. 

“Always,” he murmured in reply, kissing her again. When he pulled away from her, she was smiling.

**Author's Note:**

> After the events of this story, it can be assumed that Loki leaves Asgard and finds Thanos, after which the events of 'The Avengers' will take place.


End file.
